Hello My Treacherous Friends
by saramagic
Summary: A year after Voldemort’s defeat. Harry and his friends due to different reasons have all fallen out. Tired of all the arguments and enmity he decides to invite them all to his house to see if anything can be resolved. But what’s his secret?


**A/N : **Hey I'm back with a new story. This does NOT mean I have given up on 'What if?' However I am simply having a bit of a break. This chapter was originally a lot longer, but I thought I would just submit a small chapter to give you a taste of how the story will be. The story was inspired by a brilliant song by Ok Go.

**Summary :** A year after Voldemort's defeat. Harry and his friends due to different reasons have all either fallen out or lost touch with each other. Harry is tired of all the arguments and enmity. So he decides to invite them all to his house to see if anything can be resolved. But what is his secret that he's not telling?

**Disclaimer**: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros, Inc. The song Hello my treacherous friends belongs to Ok Go. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Hello my **treacherous** friends.

Chapter **one**

**Welcoming storm**

"Hello, my treacherous friends,

And thank you for joining me here tonight.

I brought you all here to discuss, as I must,

How grateful I am for your insights." Ok Go

Harry sat by the window watching the rain cascading onto the treetops. Suddenly there was a flash of lighting which lit up the entire sky, a beautiful shimmery blue. He looked back round the room, it was dark, 'When had that happened?' he muttered an inaudible spell under his breath and the candles breathed to life. The room was immediately lit with a creepy, flickering glow. He was sitting in a large round red banqueting hall, with a long oak table in the middle. Harry flicked his wand at the basket of wood by a huge fireplace at the end of the hall, and a log leapt out of the basket and onto the fire with a satisfying crackle and the orange flames flared up like a lion shaking its mane.

He turned back to the window just in time to catch the next silvery-blue fork of lightning arch across the wooded landscape. He checked his watch it was 8:15. He tried to remember what time he put on the invitations. It was 8:30, he was sure. Harry began to feel slightly nervous what if no one turned up? This last year had been a strange one, with the defeat of Voldemort surely he should have been happy? In a way he was because it was all over. However now he had to deal with the inevitable lack of privacy the media was leaving him with. He didn't mind too much before, but now it was grinding him down. He couldn't even go for a fly on his new Firebolt-Extreme without making front-page news.

The worst part was he didn't have his friends to help him through it; there was no one to help him see the funny side of his fame. It wasn't like he didn't have any friends, but he never felt sure if the people who suddenly had a strong interest in him, were using him for his fame and money. He only felt he could trust the people he used to know.

Harry had forgotten most of the reasons they had all fallen out. Though remembered as the war came nearer, the stress had gotten worse, tensions ran high and fights broke out between everyone like wildfire. Harry himself had been rather commanding, which got many of the people on his side angry with him. It all seemed like it all happened a long time ago. His memories of the war were all kept in a pensive in his room, but even in there they were fuzzy and irregular. He didn't feel like he knew the people in there anymore, they were just actors from the past, they had nothing to do with him.

Harry jumped slightly as the thunder boomed again. Harry tried to add up how many people would be coming tonight.

There was a sudden whooshing noise, and Harry looked up to watch as the flames in the huge fireplace turned green and Hermione fell out, calmly got up and dusted herself off. She hadn't noticed Harry, she just stood there looking nervous. Harry was quite surprised to see her wearing her Medi-Witch robes; she probably came straight from work. He'd spoken to her a couple of times since Voldemort's fall, she told him she was training to be a Medi-Witch, and they would have to meet up but she never got back to him.

Harry stood up from where he was sitting, Hermione spotted him and smiled. "Hi Hermione," Harry said calmly.

"Wow Harry it's so good to see you again!" Hermione practically squealed, she ran up to him and gave him a big hug.

"It is?" Harry said surprised, he and Hermione hadn't had a massive row like most of them, but simply had grew apart, yet in their last chat she had given no indication that she was pleased to see him.

"Of course it is! How are you?" As Hermione let go of her tight hug Harry felt any hostility he had towards her over her despondency fade away.

"I'm okay, you?"

"I'm very well thanks!" Hermione beamed, then looked around at the room. "What a nice place you have here, Harry."

"Yeah, I just wanted somewhere out of the way, you know."

Hermione gave a knowing smile. "Yes I can imagine you do what with the Daily Prophet following you around like an unwanted hex."

"Yes they do tend to get everywhere, at least this place is unplottable."

"Yeah that has to be useful. I suppose they're desperate for a good story, now that the war is over they've got nothing to write about. I saw you on the front cover the other day it said _Harry sneezes in public! _" They both laughed.

"Not the scandalous bit of gossip I think they wanted that week."

"Perhaps not, but you were pulling a great face!" Hermione giggled.

Harry laughed. "Ok let's just be serious for a moment."

Hermione sobered up instantly. "I think I know what you are going to say."

Harry sighed and sat down on a chair at the round oak table. "What's changed Hermione? Why did you blank me for a year, then now suddenly decide we're friends again?"

"I was going to wait till the meeting, but I'll tell you now since you need an explanation." Harry nodded, he certainly did.

Hermione sighed tiredly and brushed a stray curl back from her face, "Well when I received your invite, I started to wonder why we all fell out in such a grand scale. Yes we were under a horrible amount of pressure, but I don't believe that was all there was to it. So I did some research and got a friend of mine at St Mungo's to run some tests and I found out that the Death Eaters cast a spell over our side to make us all argumentative so we would all fall out with each other. Voldemort knew that our friendships, our bonds were one of our greatest weapons."

"That bastard!" Harry said angrily. "Well that certainly makes sense. No wonder...Merlin to think even after he's dead he's still making my life a misery."

Hermione put her hand on his shoulder, "Hey it's ok, now we know we can tell everyone and everything will be ok again."

Harry gave Hermione a disbelieving look. "You really think it's going to be that easy?" The thunder echoed ominously in the background and the rain pelted the window harder than ever.

**A/N** : Okay, what did you all think of that? Should I keep going with it? I really enjoyed wiring it so I probably will continue writing it, I've already written chapter 2. I'll put it up soon. Please review with your opinions.


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